Don't Be a Follower

I’m really trying to learn something about the swimbait game, not necessarily the five-hundred-dollar-footlong type, but rather how I can integrate tournament-sized baits into my routine. Over the past month or so I’ve enjoyed some success, first with the 6-inch Megabass Magdraft and more recently with the Optimum Baits 5-inch Boom Boom Line Thru. This past weekend I tried to cross over into the hard bait world a little bit more, spending some time with the River2Sea S-Waver 168.

There have been brief shining moments of glory, but mostly I’ve been living at the ridiculous intersection of addiction and frustration. I’m seeing dozens of fish each time out that I can get to chase any other lure, but only a small percentage of them commit to the meal plan.

The soft baits skip incredibly well, and multiple times each day I’ve had them lead not just single bass, but groups of them, back out from under the cover of darkness. They’ll follow the bait right up to the boat, and then lazily turn away. Sometimes, they’ll follow it out five or six times in a row without striking, but if I go back in with another bait like a Senko or a D-Shad I don’t get bit. I’ve tried changing colors, varying cadences (“Be the ball, Danny.”), and different sizes, but I’m still batting below the Mendoza Line.

But I just can’t quit it. If you see 30 fish and land 5 of them for 12 pounds, on paper it’s the same as if you see 5 and land them all for the same 12 pounds. In my mind, though, those situations are totally different. If I can figure out one or two little tips or tweaks, I may be able to increase that percentage from 5/30 up to 10 of 30. If nothing else, I’m locating fish that I may be able to go back later and catch some other way. This is the most excited I’ve been about an apparent failure in decades, and with each follow, hope emerges again.